This is one of my ‘go to’ plants and if you have a shady area of your garden, one I would recommend you try.
Emerging from late March, it produces masses of pale blue ‘Forget-me-not’ flowers through April and May. These complement the heart shaped leaves, heavily figured with pale silver-grey and pronounced dark green veins, which last through to winter. It reliably comes back year after year, is pest free and needs little care. Its a winner.
Brunnera are a range of woodland plants, native to the woodlands of Eastern Europe and North West Asia. They are clump forming perennials, dying down in winter and remerging in spring from their underground rhizome (…more on rhizomes here).
As a woodland plant, Brunnera thrive in shade but also look fantastic in early morning sunshine provided they’re planted in rich, moist organic soil. They form tight clumps of foliage, about 20cm high and 30cm wide, with the pale blue flowers on slim stems appearing to float above.
Brunnera macrophylla (macrophylla means “larger-leaved”) has rather plain leaves, but several cultivars have been bred with very distinctive variegated foliage. These include ‘Jack Frost’.
The varigation arises from of a lack of the green pigment chlorophyll in some of the plant cells. It isn’t an adaptation to the environment, but instead it is usually the result of a cell mutation, and can be inherited (genetic) or occur randomly (chimeric).
‘Jack Frost’ has been awarded the prestigious Award of Garden Merit (AGM) by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)
- Resistant to most pests and diseases, its easy to care for
- Grow in full or partial shade in rich, moist well drained soil. Dry soils and full sun are to be avoided.
- Propagate by division is spring and by root cuttings in winter.
- Deadhead after flowering as it can self seed around.
Other cultivars of Brunnera are available. All have similar characteristics but slightly different leaf patterns or flower colour.
If you’ve not grown Brunnera before and have a shady part of your garden, then I would recommend you try Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’. It will reward you year after year.